Did low-wage workers lose out in the first period and make gains in the second? Not at all. According to a study by the Economic Policy Institute, wages for the bottom 10th percentile of US workers rose in the late 1990s, and fell during the years from 2010 to 2014.
FAIR
February 22, 2021
We get some background on forced arbitration and why it matters from previous CounterSpin conversations with Celine McNicholas from the Economic Policy Institute and Joanne Doroshow from the Center for Justice and Democracy.
FAIR Counterspin
February 22, 2021
Trump nominated three “employer-side” members to the NLRB, giving businesses a distinct majority on the five-member board, which currently has one vacant seat. An analysis by the Economic Policy Institute found that Trump’s NLRB members sided with the pro-business Chamber of Commerce in 10 key issue areas, based on a 2017 “wishlist” published by the Chamber. The board also undercut unions’ ability to organize outside of business hours and allowed gig workers to be classified as independent contractors.
Center for Responsive Politics
February 22, 2021
Over 70 percent of federal labor standards investigations of farms found violations, including wage theft and inadequate housing and transportation, according to a recent report by the Economic Policy Institute. However, although the agriculture sector accounts for a much higher share of investigations and violations than its share of total U.S. employment, there is a very low chance any farm employer will be investigated.
Currently, a hierarchy exists where legal immigrants suffer higher workplace violations than non-immigrants, but illegal immigrants suffer the highest rates of all, said Daniel Costa, director of Immigration Law and Policy Research at the Economic Policy Institute.
“It’s pretty clear that the lack of a legal status leads to the ability for employers to break the law against you without much worry of getting in trouble,” Costa said. “They fear retaliation and can’t speak up in the workplace because that could lead to their deportation and they’re afraid to report violations to government officials because they don’t want to interact with officials over deportation fears.”
Politico
February 22, 2021
Public Citizen and other groups are circulating a letter in support of DeFazio’s bill. The levy is “an important step toward having Wall Street pay its fair share of taxes,” says the letter, whose signatories so far include the liberal Economic Policy Institute and unions such as the AFL-CIO and International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Bloomberg
February 22, 2021
Heidi Shierholz, a former Labor Department economist now with the liberal Economic Policy Institute, offers a much higher estimate of nearly 19 million unemployed, derived from the number of officially unemployed (10.1 million), those who dropped out of the labor force (5.3 million), and those who are misclassified or non-responsive to surveys (3.5 million). Add the people who have seen cuts to their income (6.8 million), and the total of those negatively affected economically by pandemic comes to 25.5 million.
The Fiscal Times
February 22, 2021
When Amazon raised its minimum wage to $15 per hour in 2018, a move now being debated in Congress for all American workers, some believed it would pressure other companies to lift pay levels as well — particularly rival retailers and warehouse employers.
“This is going to be a big deal for very low-wage workers,” Ben Zipperer, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based economic think tank said at the time. “It’s going to compel other businesses to raise wages as well.”
Gainesville Times
February 22, 2021
We talked to Celine McNicholas, Director of Government Affairs and Labor Counsel with the Economic Policy Institute, to get the low-down on what we can expect, and dare to hope for.
Dissent Magazine
February 22, 2021
The federal minimum wage is the baseline for employers in the state. A single adult needs to earn $11.76 per hour working full time to meet her basic needs in South Carolina, $4 more than the current minimum wage. According to David Cooper at Economic Policy Institute, the wages of roughly 684,000 South Carolina workers — a third of the state’s workforce — would increase if the state adopted a $15 minimum wage by 2025.
Statehouse Report
February 22, 2021
As David Cooper, senior economic analyst at the Economic Policy Institute, notes in the report, minimum wage hikes result in stronger buying power to workers. In turn, hospitality businesses benefit from the extra purchases. “Tax breaks or deferrals, rent subsidies, expanded lending programs, and other business-oriented relief measures all help firms weather a downturn,” Cooper says, “but they’re not going to drive additional spending in the same way that a minimum wage hike does.”
Mother Jones
February 22, 2021
Of the workers who will benefit from a $15 federal minimum wage hike, 59% are women, with nearly one in four of these women being Black or Latina, reports the Economic Policy Institute.
CNBC
February 22, 2021
“Because a higher minimum wage lifts up lower-income households — although some middle-income households benefit, too — it is likely to have a stronger effect than many — possibly even most — other recession response measures state and local policymakers might consider,” Dave Cooper, senior economic analyst at the Economic Policy Institute, said in One Fair Wage’s report.
Restaurant Dive
February 22, 2021
But without hundreds of billions in new federal aid, state and local governments won’t have the money to do that, said Julia Wolfe at the Economic Policy Institute.
“Many of them will be tempted to pursue austerity — the same mistake that they made last time around, in the Great Recession,” Wolfe said, after which it took years to restore public sector employment.
Marketplace
February 22, 2021
A widespread and significant pay gap remains the norm. Since 2015, the pay gap has only decreased by $0.07; in 2020, women earned $0.81 for every dollar a man makes. A brutal example of the wage disparity was reported by the Economic Policy Institute: In 2016, Latina women had to work all of 2016 and 10 months into 2017 (November) to earn the equivalent that their white, male counterparts earned in 2016 alone.
Portland Press Herald
February 22, 2021
Heidi Shierholz, director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, pointed to a Goldman Sachs output gap calculation which was twice the government’s.
Forbes
February 22, 2021
A key way to support these lives is advancing equitable opportunities. History shows that longstanding systemic inequities have had a compounding negative effect on generations of Black families. A report from the Economic Policy Institute highlights that in 2016, the median household wealth of white households was 10 times that of Black households ($171,000 compared to $17,409). The report notes: “One of the most important forms of wealth for working and middle-class families is home equity. Yet, the share of Black households that owned their own home remained virtually unchanged between 1968 (41.1 %) and today (41.2%).”
Deseret News
February 22, 2021
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., told reporters on a break from the trial that, while he favors raising the minimum wage, he thinks $15 an hour for a state like his is too high. But low-wage workers in West Virginia insist Senator Manchin is out of touch with the 62 million poor and low income Americans across the nation who would benefit from a $15 minimum wage, according to an analysis from the Economic Policy Institute.
Charleston Gazette-Mail
February 22, 2021
The unemployment rate seems an obvious starting point for such a policy discussion.
“That’s where the rubber meets the road for workers,” said Heidi Shierholz, director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, and a former chief economist at the U.S. Labor Department.
The concept is straightforward: Enhanced unemployment benefits fall in tandem with the unemployment rate, which signals an improved job market.
CNBC
February 22, 2021
It is no secret, Black and brown people with criminal records are stigmatized in a way that prevents them from enjoying the basic rights and privileges we often take for granted. Among them are job opportunities and long-term employment. In mid-2020, the Economic Policy Institute reported that the Black unemployment rate was nearly twice that of the overall unemployment rate in Maryland. The disparity in these figures has remained consistent throughout the pandemic, which shows no sign of slowing down.
Baltimore Sun
February 22, 2021
Before the crisis, families paid two out of three dollars spent for early care and education — the Economic Policy Institute calculated that $42 billion was spent by families out of the total $64 billion spent privately and publicly for this essential service. This crisis showed how unstable that financing system made child care programs on which working families rely.
EdNC
February 22, 2021
“You have one swath of the economy getting absolutely slammed and then a huge swath of workers who haven’t seen a decline in pay,” said Heidi Shierholz, director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute. “In a normal recession they’d be helping to keep the economy going but that is not at all the case now.”
Lessons from previous recessions, Ms. Shierholz continued, show that without a concerted effort to provide relief to those hard-hit low-wage workers — particularly by eliminating the subminimum wage for tipped workers — any economic recovery will compound existing wage gaps.
New York Times
February 22, 2021
— Heidi Shierholz, former chief economist at the Labor Department, “thinks the best answer to how many people are still affected economically by the pandemic is 25.5 million.”
Politico Morning Shift
February 22, 2021
The wage hit its peak in inflation-adjusted terms in 1968 at just over $12. Though it has been raised 14 times since then, it has not kept pace with the cost of living. The current nearly 12-year stretch is the longest it’s gone without a boost.
That means minimum wage workers are getting poorer over time, said Josh Bivens, director of research at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
“Every year that Congress does not raise it, people get a pay cut,” he said.
CNN
February 22, 2021
It is no secret, Black and brown people with criminal records are stigmatized in a way that prevents them from enjoying the basic rights and privileges we often take for granted. Among them are job opportunities and long-term employment. In mid-2020, the Economic Policy Institute reported that the Black unemployment rate was nearly twice that of the overall unemployment rate in Maryland. The disparity in these figures has remained consistent throughout the pandemic, which shows no sign of slowing down.
Baltimore Sun
February 22, 2021
Before the crisis, families paid two out of three dollars spent for early care and education — the Economic Policy Institute calculated that $42 billion was spent by families out of the total $64 billion spent privately and publicly for this essential service. This crisis showed how unstable that financing system made child care programs on which working families rely.
EdNC
February 22, 2021
“You have one swath of the economy getting absolutely slammed and then a huge swath of workers who haven’t seen a decline in pay,” said Heidi Shierholz, director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute. “In a normal recession they’d be helping to keep the economy going but that is not at all the case now.”
Lessons from previous recessions, Ms. Shierholz continued, show that without a concerted effort to provide relief to those hard-hit low-wage workers — particularly by eliminating the subminimum wage for tipped workers — any economic recovery will compound existing wage gaps.
New York Times
February 22, 2021
— Heidi Shierholz, former chief economist at the Labor Department, “thinks the best answer to how many people are still affected economically by the pandemic is 25.5 million.”
Politico Morning Shift
February 22, 2021
The wage hit its peak in inflation-adjusted terms in 1968 at just over $12. Though it has been raised 14 times since then, it has not kept pace with the cost of living. The current nearly 12-year stretch is the longest it’s gone without a boost.
That means minimum wage workers are getting poorer over time, said Josh Bivens, director of research at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
“Every year that Congress does not raise it, people get a pay cut,” he said.
CNN
February 22, 2021
Shierholz, the former Labor Department economist, says she thinks the best answer to how many people are still affected economically by the pandemic is 25.5 million.
Washington Post
February 19, 2021
U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth (D KY 3rd, Louisville), chair of the House Budget Committee; then William Spriggs, Howard University economics professor, chief economist to the AFL-CIO, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Labor for Policy (2009-2012) and Thea Lee, president of the Economic Policy Institute
WNYC
February 19, 2021